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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24394396">❉ 139 Dreams (Maya Yokoo) Invite</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheRainRogue/pseuds/TheRainRogue'>TheRainRogue</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>139 Dreams [53]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Bamboo Blade</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Fluff, One Shot, Other, School, Slice of Life</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 03:22:10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,958</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24394396</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheRainRogue/pseuds/TheRainRogue</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>When you first came to Japan, you viewed it as a second chance, an opportunity to change yourself. You were determined to overcome your social anxiety disorder, but when school started, your resolve shattered. On the first day at school, you spent more than half the day in the bathroom, trying to keep yourself together. The other kids tried to talk to you, interested in your life back in America, but despite yourself, you could only apologize and run away.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Yokoo Maya/Reader</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>139 Dreams [53]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1755985</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Anime, One Shots</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>❉ 139 Dreams (Maya Yokoo) Invite</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  
</p><ul>
<li>
<strong>Genre</strong>: Angst, School, Slice of Life, Fluff ☁</li>
<li>
<strong>Word Count</strong>: 1,921 ☁</li>
<li>
<strong>Pairing</strong>: Reader x Maya ☁</li>
<li>
<strong>World</strong>: Anime, Bamboo Blade ☁</li>
</ul><p>☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: . ☁</p><p>When you first came to Japan, you viewed it as a second chance, an opportunity to change yourself. You were determined to overcome your social anxiety disorder, but when school started, your resolve shattered. On the first day at school, you spent more than half the day in the bathroom, trying to keep yourself together. The other kids tried to talk to you, interested in your life back in America, but despite yourself, you could only apologize and run away.</p><p>After a while, people stopped trying to talk to you and the year passed in complete solitude. You didn’t know what to do anymore. You had tried so hard, but your body always betrayed you. When confronted with another human being, your brain perceives them as a threat to your life. Without questioning it, your body believes these signals and activates fight-or-flight mode.</p><p>Every night before bed, you’d vow to try harder, to do better, but the next day would arrive and nothing changed.</p><p>The bell rung, making you jump from your thoughts. Your classmates chatted happily as they gathered their things and left the room. You were on cleaning duty today, so you stayed behind, waiting until everyone had left before getting started.</p><p>“Where do you think you’re going?”</p><p>You glanced at the front of the room where two of your classmates stood. Ai Masato was blocking the door, giving a stern look to Akemi Asakawa who was attempting to leave.</p><p>“I’m going to be late!” Akemi whined, jutting out her bottom lip.</p><p>Ai didn’t budge, folding her arms over her chest. “I’m sure the kendo team will understand. You’re on cleaning duty with Y/N-san.”</p><p>“I’m not worried about <em>them</em>!” The blonde waved her cell phone. “My boyfriend is taking me out on a date this afternoon.”</p><p>“He can wait, too!” Ai scowled, pushing up her glasses.</p><p>Akemi wanted to argue but decided that doing so with a member of the student council wouldn’t end well for her. “Fi~ne,” She placed her bag on the desk, motioning for you to follow. “Let’s go,”</p><p>With nervous steps, you followed the girl to the supply closet to gather the things you would need. Ai was gone when you both returned to the room. You set the broom and dustpan against the wall before starting to move the desks to the back of the room. You had just picked up the third one when Akemi called out to you, startling you – you nearly dropped the desk but tightened your grip just in time.</p><p>“Hey, Y/N? Are you dating anyone?”</p><p>The question shocked you and your heart picked up speed. Why was she asking you such a thing? You tried to keep your mind on the task at hand as you quickly shook your head no.</p><p>She frowned. “Well, dating someone is really special! When you miss dates, it puts a strain on the relationship, you know?”</p><p>You stayed silent, setting another desk against the back wall.</p><p>She didn’t like your silence and moved to stand in front of you, clapping her hands together. “I just <em>can’t</em> miss this date. You can handle this alone, right? I promise to pay you back later!”</p><p>You swallowed hard, feeling ice creeping through your veins. Your heart felt like it was going to burst out of your chest. She was far too close to you and it was getting hard to breathe. You closed your eyes and nodded your head frantically, wishing everything would just stop.</p><p>“Thank you so much!”</p><p>You heard rustling, the door sliding open and then closed, and then silence. Your knees buckled under you and you fell back onto the linoleum floor. It took a while for your body to stop shaking enough to continue cleaning. <em>‘It’ll be really late by the time I get home…’</em>, you thought with a frown, picking up the dustpan. Still, you were thankful for the solitude and silence.</p><p>An hour slowly ticked by and you were still cleaning. <em>‘I just have to put the desks back and I’m done’</em>, your stomach growled in protest. You picked up a desk to move it when the door slammed open with force, a loud voice echoing in the room.</p><p>“Damn it, what’s taking you so long?!”</p><p>You squeaked in surprise, nearly jumping out of your skin. The desk slipped from your hands, landing hard on your foot before falling over and taking your body with it. The pain and noise echoed throughout your body. Still rattled from earlier, you began to shake violently.</p><p>“Shit, are you okay?” Maya Yokoo, a third-year student, rushed over to you, kneeling down next to your form. “Are you hurt?”</p><p>Her voice was loud in your ear and you flinched. You felt so overwhelmed and scared. Tears pricked your eyes, sliding down your flushed cheeks. Your ankle was throbbing in time with your heart.</p><p>Maya started to panic. “Ah, please don’t cry! It’s alright!”</p><p>“I’m s-so-rry,” you cried out. You’d give anything to just disappear.</p><p>“Sorry for what? You didn’t do anything wrong!” Her eyes scanned your trembling form down to your ankle, which was bright red and beginning to swell. With a nod, she leaned forward and slipped her arms under your back and knees. She picked you up like you were a feather.</p><p>You instinctively froze in shock, clinging to her kendo uniform. You had never been in this situation before with someone carrying you. Your heart skipped a beat at the warmth radiating from her body. She brought you to the nurse’s office, setting you gently on the bed and quickly explaining to the nurse what had happened. The nurse nodded in understanding, giving you a reassuring smile before examining your ankle.</p><p>She hummed. “It doesn’t appear to be broken, but you should go to the hospital to be sure. I’ll call your older brother for you.” She patted your shoulder with a smile before walking away. You had been in her office plenty of times with your panic attacks, so she understood your issues and always did her best to assist you.</p><p>You stared down at your hands, seeing Maya standing beside the bed from the corner of your eye. You wanted to look at her, to thank her, to apologize, but your voice wouldn’t work and you couldn’t bring yourself to meet her piercing gaze.</p><p>She brought a chair over and sat down, brow furrowed. “Why were you cleaning alone? Where’s Akemi?”</p><p>Your hands clenched. Should you be honest and tell her that Akemi left? If you did that, the blonde might hate you, and you didn’t want that. You closed your eyes tightly, focusing on your words. “She wasn’t, um… she wasn’t feeling… well. I t-told her to… to go home.”</p><p>Maya narrowed her eyes, not believing your story at all. She considered demanding the truth from you, but she didn’t want to upset you again – you had only just stopped shaking.</p><p>The door swung open and your brother rushed inside, breathing heavy from his run. “Y/N! Are you okay?” You nodded, feeling guilt settle in your stomach; you felt like such a burden. “Come on, let’s get you to the hospital. Can you walk?”</p><p>“Um…” you scooted to the side of the bed, putting all of your weight on your uninjured ankle. Slowly, you transferred some weight to the other one. It was pretty sore, but you could walk slowly. You breathed a sigh of relief before turning toward Maya and bowing, hoping she understood your meaning, <em>‘Thank you,’</em></p><p>☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: . ☁</p><p>The bell for lunch rang and you stretched your legs under the desk before standing up, manga in one hand and your lunch money in the other. Your brother worked too much to have the time to make you a lunch box and your cooking skills were deplorable.</p><p><em>‘Akemi wasn’t in class today… I hope I didn’t get her into trouble…’</em> you sighed, trying not to think about the events of the day before as you bought a bread roll and headed outside. There was a large, old tree on the side of the school where you spent all of your free time. The tree felt special to you because it always seemed to calm you down.</p><p>You sat on the grass and started to peel the sticker off of the bread roll.</p><p>“There you are!”</p><p>You jumped, dropping the roll on the grass. Maya was approaching fast, Akemi caught under her arm. You scooted back until you were flat against the trunk of the tree. <em>‘S-She looks so angry…’</em></p><p>Maya came to a stop in front of you. “Y/N, Akemi has something to say to you, <em>don’t you</em>?” She squeezed her arm, making the younger girl whine.</p><p>“But she said -” She stopped when Maya’s eyes narrowed and Akemi frowned, turning toward you and bowing. “I’m very sorry for ditching you yesterday!”</p><p>You quickly nodded, staring at the ground.</p><p>“Can I go now?” Akemi pouted, turning to the older girl.</p><p>Maya rolled her eyes, watching as the blonde walked away, eyes glued to her cell phone. She then turned to you, watching you curiously. She couldn’t understand why you refused to look at her or why you always acted so nervous. She had asked Akemi about you, but she only said that you were always alone.</p><p>“Sorry about her,” she apologized, sitting on the grass across from you. “How’s your ankle?”</p><p>“I-It’s okay…” you mumbled, absentmindedly picking at the blades of grass.</p><p>“That’s good! I was worried about you,”</p><p>Your eyes widened in surprise. <em>‘She was… worried about me?’</em> You could feel your cheeks growing warm at the thought.</p><p>She noticed this and smiled, feeling her heart skip a beat. <em>‘Y/N is so cute’</em>, she thought. “Hey, why don’t you come to our practice this afternoon?”</p><p><em>‘Practice?’</em>, you were confused for a moment, tilting your head. <em>‘Oh, right, she’s on the kendo team, but… why would she invite me?’</em>, you lowered your head, strands of hair falling in your face. How could you say no after she’s been so nice to you? On the other hand, just the thought of going made your anxiety raise several levels.</p><p>Maya frowned, reaching forward to brush your hair away from your eyes. Your head whipped up in surprise, eyes locking with her own. Her cheeks flushed at how beautiful they were. <em>‘No, Y/N isn’t cute, they are gorgeous. I want to help them open up!’</em> “Please!” she reached for your hand, pausing for a brief second before resting it on top of your own.</p><p>Your heart was pounding in your ears, face as red as a cherry. You were scared, but a part of you didn’t want to let go of her. <em>‘I… I want to change!’</em>, tears sprung to your eyes, splashing onto the back of her hand as they fell down your face.</p><p>Maya bit her lip. <em>‘Shit, I made them cry again…’</em> “Look, you don’t have to if you -”</p><p>“I…” you interrupted her, turning your hand over and grasping hers tightly. “I want to go!”</p><p>Her lips pulled up into a smile, free hand brushing your tears from your cheek. “I’ll come to get you after class.”</p><p>The bell rang to signal the end of the lunch period.</p><p>Maya stood up, pulling you with her. “No more tears, okay?”</p><p>You nodded, rubbing at your eyes. For the first time in years, you smiled a bright, genuine smile. You didn’t know if things would actually change for you this time, but you felt more hopeful than you ever had.</p><p>☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: . ☁</p>
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